Davies and Garrido share lead

with seven-under-par 65s

REPORT COMPILED FROM THE AOL GOLF NEWS SERVICE & ASIAN TOUR NEWS RELEASE

Challenge Tour graduate Rhys Davies sparkled on the opening day at the Maybank Malaysian Open to share a one-shot first-round lead with Spain's Ignacio Garrido.
The 24-year-old Davies, still buzzing after matching his career-high finish on the European Tour by claiming sixth in Abu Dhabi at the start of the year, blazed a flawless seven-under-par 65 at Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club.
A hot and admittedly sometimes lucky putter helped 1997 Ryder Cup team member Garrido share the clubhouse lead over in-form Asian number one Thongchai Jaidee and South Korea's Kim Dae-hyun after the Spaniard dropped just one shot in energy-sapping humidity.
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"I have had two weeks off since India (European Tour Avantha Masters) so you don't know how you are going to come back after that. I had a decent showing in the Middle East before India and I think that was important for me," said Edinburgh-born Welshman Davies, a former Walker Cup player who played four years on the American college circuit as a student at East Tennessee State University.
"I had a couple of good scores in Abu Dhabi and I fed off that. That is the key for me, when I start to make some birdies I want to take advantage of the fact I am playing well in that moment and really push on and make as many as possible."
WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship quarter-finalist Thongchai wobbled down the stretch with a pair of late bogeys to share second alongside Kim, who picked up five shots over his final five holes.
KJ Choi dropped his only shot of the day at the last to card a five-under-par 67 alongside Spain's Alejandro Canizares, Dane Mark Haastrup and England's Mark Foster with all of the top eight having started in the morning.
Of the afternoon starters, only a resurgent Thomas Bjorn, fresh from top-15 finishes in his last two events, made an impact on the leaderboard to join a large contingent rounding out the top 10 at four under, although 30 players will have to complete their first rounds on Friday after a thunderstorm brought a premature end to play.
Davies, who has enjoyed some measure of success on the Asian Tour over the past two seasons, enjoyed a flawless seven-birdie round, highlighted by a front nine 31. “That is the key for me. When I start to make some birdies I want to take advantage of the fact I am playing well in that moment and really push on and make as many as possible,” he said.

“It is scoreable on the front and there is a bit more length and trouble on the back nine but from my point of view, I try to play every hole as equally tough or easy – whatever way you want to put it - and try to have the same outlook every time that I step onto the tee,” he added.
Garrido got off to a bright start with an eagle 3 on his third hole where he sank a putt from 35ft.

“I think it is a course where you can get round the front nine in two or three under if you play decent golf and then on the back nine you really have to fight. So I suppose if I am saying that three or four under is a good round here, then to shoot seven under is way beyond that,” said Garrido.
Thongchai, currently 44th in the world after a third place finish in Dubai and a quarter-final appearance at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, was eight under through 15 holes before tripping up with bogeys on the seventh and ninth holes.
“I had a very good game plan and my putting was good. I enjoyed it out there but the weather was so hot. My plan was to keep my concentration and that made it easy for me to attack the greens,” said Thongchai, who holed a 20-foot eagle on the par five fifth hole.
“It was a very good round except for the last three holes. If you miss the fairway here, it will be difficult to control your approach to the green because it was very firm today.”
Choi, a seven-time US PGA Tour winner, was disappointed with his bogey on the 18th hole. “I figured if I had a four-under today, it would be a good round and I did better than that so I can’t complain.
“The course set up was very good. If you are not alert, it is designed to be risk reward. You can’t miss the greens. The pins were well placed and very appropriate. It was a good set up today,” said the Korean, who carded six birdies.
The Korean star believes the steamy conditions will test players to the limit this week. “It was a little tiring at the end and I tried to stay cool as well as I could. In these conditions, you have to really focus, especially right before you hit a shot. You have to overcome the heat. If you let it affect you, it’ll be uphill for you,” said the Asian Tour honorary member.

+Peter Whiteford from Kirkcaldy finished on 73 despite shooting six birdies in halves of 35 and 38. He had double bogeys at the the par-4 second and the par-3 11th.

FIRST ROUND SCOREBOARD

Par 72

*First round play was suspended in the late afternoon for thunder and lightning. There are 10 matches still to finish on Friday morning.

65 Rhys Davies, Ignacio Garrido (Spa)
66 Dae-hyun Kim (Kor), Thongchai Jaidee (Tha)
67 Mark Haastrup (Den), K J Choi (Kor), Alejandro Canizares (Spa), Mark Foster
68 Rahil Gangjee (Ind), Robert Rock, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha), Scott Barr (Aus), Thomas Bjorn (Den), Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel), Ross Bain
69 M Sasidaran (Mal), Seung-yul Noh (Kor), Darren Beck (Aus), Scott Strange (Aus), Peter Lawrie, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind), Wen Teh Lu (Tpe), Johan Edfors (Swe), Niclas Fasth (Swe), Sang-moon Bae (Kor), Chapchai Nirat (Tha), Digvijay Singh (Ind)
70 Soren Hansen (Den), Unho Park (Aus), Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha), George Coetzee (Rsa), Markus Brier (Aut), Angelo Que (Phi), Marcus Fraser (Aus), Hyung-sung Kim (Kor)
71 Ben Leong (Mal), Soren Kjeldsen (Den), Mikko Ilonen (Fin), Mark Brown (Nzl), Brett Rumford (Aus), Daniel Chopra (Swe), Marco Ruiz (Par), Danny Chia (Mal), Gregory Havret (Fra)
72 Anis Hassan (Mal), Steven Jeppesen (Swe), Danny Willett, Simon Yates, Simon Griffiths, Gary Boyd, Prom Meesawat (Tha), Michael Jonzon (Swe), Wen-Tang Lin (Tpe), David Horsey, Andrew Dodt (Aus), Chih-bing Lam (Sin), Hiroyuki Fujita (Jpn), David Drysdale, Arjun Atwal (Ind), Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind), Guido Van Der Valk (Ned)
73 Peter Whiteford, Martin Erlandsson (Swe), Robert Coles, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus), Darren Clarke, Hideto Tanihara (Jpn), Jason Knutzon (USA), Anthony Kang (USA), Tony Carolan (Aus), Scott Hend (Aus), Prayad Marksaeng (Tha), Ashan Wu (Chn), C Muniyappa (Ind), Phillip Archer, Ted Oh (Kor)
74 Yin-shin Chan (Tpe), Wei Chih Lu (Tha), Andrew Butterfield, Michael Campbell (Nzl), Sung Lee (Pkr), Julien Quesne (Fra), Mardan Mamat (Sin), Jamie Elson, Anthony Wall, Thammanoon Srirot (Tha), James Kamte (Rsa), Wen-hong Lin (Chn), Adam Blyth (Aus)
75 Andrew Tampion (Aus), Chris Wood, Shaaban Hussin (Mal), Mars Pucay (Phi), Paul Broadhurst, Carl Suneson (Spa), Periasamy Gunasagaran (Mal), Rick Kulacz (Aus), Gavin Green (Mal), Keith Horne (Rsa), Wen-chong Liang (Chn), Airil-Rizman Zahari (Mal), Anirban Lahiri (Ind)
76 Inn-choon Hwang (Kor), S Sivachandran (Mal), Andrew Coltart, Daisuke Maruyama (Jpn), Rashid Ismail Md (Mal), Danny Lee (Nzl), Mohd Iszaimi Ismail (Mal), Jbe Kruger (Rsa), Tetsuji Hiratsuka (Jpn), Mohd Shukree Othman (Mal), Sam Little, Shingo Katayama (Jpn)
77 Kwanchai Tannin (Hkg), Clodomiro Carranza (Arg), Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor), Mohd Hisyam Abdul Majid (Mal), Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra), Gavin Flint (Aus), Joong Kyung Mo (Kor), Jyoti Randhawa (Ind)
78 Iain Steel (Mal)
79 Marcus Both (Aus), David Howell
80 Rafael Echenique (Arg)

AMONG THOSE STILL TO FINISH:

Stephen Gallacher level par after 14 holes.

Steven O'Hara two over par after 17 holes.